


What Do You See Behind Your Eyes?

by Aiko_Hiroki12



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU non-disappearing Shiro, AU where lance gives himself up, Agender Pidge | Katie Holt, Body Modification, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I have no clue how to fly a ship, I'll update tags as I go, I'll update the rating if it changes, It'll Probably Change, Lance is from a big family, Langst, M/M, Multi, My favorite character is Lance if you cant tell, OC, Polyamory, Ree - OC, Slow Burn, Torture, Well - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 20:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11169573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aiko_Hiroki12/pseuds/Aiko_Hiroki12
Summary: Lance gave himself up to the Galra empire in exchange for Pidge's father. Now, he finds himself on a beach on some planet talking to the man that saved his life.  Soon, Lance finds there isn't any time to lay on a beach and watch the sun set, because he has to get this man home.





	1. There's a Beach Somewhere in Space

Lance laid on his back, toes digging into the sand. He watched as pink clouds lazily traversed the sky, and he listened to the calm sway of the ocean inching ever near his toes. He didn’t really have the energy to move, nor could he find a care to move. All he did or ever wanted to do was lay on that beach and watch the pink clouds move across the sky.

Lance didn’t really know how he ended up there on that beach on that day. Well, that’s not all right. Lance knew how, he just didn’t know why. He took a deep breath and played with the tips of his hair. He wasn’t really sure why he had ended up in the blue lion in the first place, or why he had to become a paladin of Voltron; however, he stayed and fought for the universe because he knew that’s what his family would want.

Lance was raised from a young age to always do the right thing. Always clean for people who can’t clean. Always walk for people who can’t walk. Always stand up for those whose voices can’t reach. Give money to those who have none. Save those who needed to be saved and make the world a place where people don’t need to be saved. Lance knew that he was raised in an idealistic way, but that had never stopped him before.

So when he found himself thrown into an intergalactic war as a paladin of Voltron, the single force that can save the universe, he knew what his family would want. So he stayed. He knew that which each passing day, the more people he saved meant more people lived free of Galra terror. He would never leave anybody behind. It wasn’t only just the right thing to do, it was the only thing he could do. Saving people was the only thing he truly connected to as a paladin.

Coran once told him that this was okay.

But it was as he lay there on the beach that he truly questioned if what he always accepted to be right was always right for him.

Lance sighed and closed his eyes. He didn’t really have the energy to think that deeply right now. Off in the distance, Lance could hear the distinct sound of a spacecraft landing. There was chatter in the forest behind him of other freed prisoners, and he was sure he could hear fish jumping around in the sea. Lance focused on nothing.

\-----------

Lance woke suddenly when the door opened. All he could think was how stupid he had been to think that the Galra would treat a paladin of Voltron any differently. As usual, he turned to look at who was coming in. Guards meant that he would be unstrapped from the table, walked around, fed, and led to a bathroom. Druids meant more experiments. Torture. Lance didn’t really know what to call it necessarily.

He was surprised when a man walked in clad in dark blue clothes and a brown scarf that wrapped around his face and neck, showing only his brown eyes and his light brown mop head of hair. When he walked him, his eyes scanned the room, but then stayed landed on Lance.

“You’re not Galra.” Lance said, smile curling up on one side a little. He yanked his wrists against the restraints.

The man rushed over and released Lance. As he helped him up, Lance could hear the distinct sound of laser gunfire and shouting echoing down the halls of the Galra ship. He had almost missed that sound. He had missed that sound. He had forgotten what it had sounded like.

“No.” the man said. His voice was muffled a bit from the scarf, but Lance could still make it out. “I’m with the resistance. We are freeing this prison vessel. Can you stand?”

Lance nodded. He sat up and swung his legs off the metal table placing them on the floor. The majority of his weight was on his right leg.

“Are you injured. Is it your leg? Do I need to apply first aid?” the man said, reaching for Lance’s leg, which was clad in tight, purple fabric.

“No.” Lance sharply said, swatting his hand away. “I’m fine.”

The man paused, brown eyes gazing into blue, before nodding.

“Okay. You were the last one. Let’s go.”  
Quickly, the man rushed out the door, practically leaving Lance in his dust. 

Lance rushed forward, anxiety creeping up in his throat about his leg.

“Wait!” Lance yelled at the man who was already half-way down the hall. “I’m not the last one!”

That caused the man to pause. He turned around and ran back to Lance, glancing around and down the hall for Galra soldiers.

“You’re the last room on this floor and we cleared all the other floors.”

“Trust me.” Lance pleaded, looking at the man who was a few inches shorter than him.

Lance never got an okay. He took the man’s silence and frantic clearing of the hall as the go-ahead. Lance walked over to the right-hand wall. The purple wall was bare save for one small fingerprint scanner. It would have been unnoticeable unless you had seen it used before. Lance placed the pads of his fingers around the scanner, not actually touching it, and stared at it for a few second.

The man was seeming to lose his patience. He ran over to Lance and grabbed the paladin’s shoulder.

“I really don’t have time for this. We need to go.”

Lance didn’t really blame him for his irritation. He had been in the same place just six months prior. Feeling the never-ending, always-impending sense of doom. Lance was all too familiar with prisoner rescues. He knew just how common it was for just one Galra soldier to walk around the corner and foil plans.  
Lance gave the man his patience. He understood. Lance just held up a finger and almost immediately after a little green light popped onto the wall next to his fingers. The man’s grip on his shoulder lessened instantaneously. 

“They keep all the disabled in here because they like trying to fix them. It’ll take longer to get them out, but I don’t think anybody deserves to die left behind.” Lance turned to look at the man. “Do you?”

“How did you do that?” he questioned, eyes widening and looking up at Lance.

Lance frowned and looked into the room that opened up to of different aliens with missing limbs.

“I’d rather not answer that right now.”

\------------

Lance rubbed his face and sighed again when a shadow blocked the overly bright sun from his eyes. Squinting at the sudden difference, Lance looked up to see the same man who had saved him. His face was still covered in the brown scarf and he was holding a giant umbrella over his head.

“Can I sit down?” he asked. 

Lance closed his eyes in response, so the man took that as a yes. He stuffed the giant umbrella in the sand between them and sat to Lance’s left. Lance opened an eye and smirked. The entire thing felt very earthlike and caused the smallest shift in his gut. So he just rested back behind the darkness of his eyelids.

“Sorry about the umbrella” the man said, reaching up to unwind his scarf. “I just burn very easily and this world is just a bit closer to the sun than earth.”

Lance just made the smallest sing song sound in the back of his throat, but didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, I wanted to come say thank you.”

That had Lance’s attention. He opened his eyes and turned his head in the sand to look at the man.

“For what?” Lance asked. He didn’t think the man had anything be thankful for.

“Well, honestly, you’re the first human I’ve met out here.” The man paused, holding the scarf around his face. “Some of the aliens I work with are harsh. They’re good people, sure, but they are brutal in who they believe is worth saving. ‘Who can fight and who wants to fight?’ they would always ask. I always felt it was wrong. I always knew in the back of my mind that there were others that needed to be saved. Hidden. But we never had time to look, so I just pushed away my humanity. So I’m saying thanks to you for reminding me what it means to be human. What sets us apart.”

He brought down the scarf and turned toward Lance.

“You’re human!” Lance shouted, sitting up and smashing his forehead with the man’s chin.

They both recoiled. Lance held his forehead while the man rubbed his chin.

“Yes, but keep it down. Nobody else knows that. Well, there is just one girl who knows. You can meet her later if you want.”

Lance stared in fascination at the man before his face twisted. “You look like Pidge.”

The man’s eyebrows knotted. “What’s a pidge?”

Lance laughed at that.

“You know, I’m not really sure.” Lance smiled and looked out at the ocean. "I'm Lance by the way."

Lance turned to smile at the man before gazing at the ocean. 

“My name’s Matthew. Normally, I just go by Matt.”

Lance’s eyes widened. He shot up off the beach and smacked his head into the umbrella.

“Wait! You’re Matt?!” Lance practically shouted, waving his hands around and grabbing onto his chest to calm his beating heart.

“Uh” was all Matt said, shoulders stiff.

Lance took a deep breath and turned to look at Matt, who was still sitting somewhat stiffly on the beach.

“You’re Matt.”

Matt cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“I knew you looked like Pidge! You’re her brother!”

Matt was silent for a moment, eyebrows pulling together in honest confusion.

“What are you talking about? My sister’s name is Katie.”

“Yes. Yes Yes. I know that. She goes by Pidge right now. She traveled all this way across the universe to find you. Her father is on the Castle and now they are just looking for you!”

Matt stood, somewhat hostile.

“Look, Katie didn’t even want me to go to space. She would never—“

“But!” Lance interjected “You and your father went missing. Pidge is the hardest going conspiracy theorist I’ve ever met! Of course, she would think something was up! And! She was right! We have to at least get you face to face! You’ll see!”

Matt looked down at the ground. He seemed hesitant.

“I don’t know. I mean, don’t get me wrong, everything you said about my sister is true. But I don’t know if I can just leave the resistance.”

Lance paused at that. He turned to look at the ocean where the sun blindingly reflected.

“Then,” Lance could feel his heartbeat quicken “go on a resistance mission to take me back to the Castle. I was doing my own fighting. They would give you a ship for that right?”

Matt pursed his lips.

“I don’t know. I would have to ask at the meeting tonight back at base.”

“Then do.”

Lance turned back to Matt, stepping forward. Matt could see the determination in his deep blue eyes and felt his heart squeeze. His eyes widened and he stood a little straighter.

“I don’t—“

“I’ll stay with the other escapees. See how I can help them and get them comfortable. You go to your meeting and we can meet after. I have to get you to your sister. It’s tearing her apart. She needs you just as much as we all need her.”

Matt looked down at the sand, unable to stare into those blue eyes any longer. He sighed and nodded.

“Okay. I’ll ask. Don’t expect anybody too willing to help. Or to even loan anything. We might just be on our own.”

“Then so be it.”


	2. Like The Mother's Jacket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is mostly a filler chapter. I'll try to update every Sunday if I can! Thanks for reading and feel free to leave comments! Thank you to everybody who left comments and Kudos on the first chapter!

Lance grew up in a big family, in a small house, on a beach lining a forest. Sure, he was used to the forest. Sure, he was used the dirt that stuck to the bottom of his feet and the leaves that would catch in his hair and the sand lost in the seams of his pockets. Sure, he was used to the bugs.

That didn’t stop him from hating it.

Lance groaned as Matt cut down another low hanging branch, leaves bursting from the tree above and landing on Lances already unruly hair. He just stared at Matt with a look of pure defeat on his face.

“Sorry, Lance.” Matt chuckled, brushing the leaves off his own head. “I wouldn’t have to do this on any other planet, but this one has a very quick regrowth cycle.”

Lance could feel the irritation bubble up in his throat. He huffed and brushed off the leaves and his shoulders, which were dirty, still, from when Lance had tripped on a tree root a while back.

“It’s fine.” Lance said, using all the strength his mama gave him to find his patience. “As long as none of this is like poison ivy. I’m super allergic to that.”

Matt laughed at that and turned to smack his shoulder. “Nope! Not sure there is!”

Lance squinted his eyes at that.

“Suspicious.” He said, looking around at the plants beside him. Pulling his hand away from a small green bush that got a little too close.

Matt brushed off a leaf on Lance’s shoulder that he had missed before turning back to the forest in front of him. He took a couple of steps and cut down some more branches, leaving Lance in the same situation he had just been in. Lance gave up and just followed, deciding to leave the foliage collecting on his head for later. Maybe if he gathered enough, he could make a flower crown. Or a leaf crown. Did this planet even have flowers?

“No. Really. I mean, I’m allergic too and I haven’t had a problem. Granted, I did on Lunurani.”

“Lunurani?”

“Yeah,” Matt said, cutting down another branch. “My best friend here is from there. It’s all vegetation. Even the people. She’s the one I told you who knows.”

“That your human?”

Matt turned quickly and covered Lance’s mouth. He glanced around for any outside ears.

“Yes” he whispered, “But stop saying it. Not all aliens are too keen on new species. They assume everybody not from a group of victims is like the Galra.”

Lance tried talking, but it just came out in a mumbling mess. Matt sighed and moved his hand away, shushing the taller one.

“If it’s such a problem, then should I be covering up like you?”

It was an honest question meant to be answered with a simple yes or no. But instead, Matt gazed at him in curiosity for what felt like a century.

“You were freed from a prison. You were a victim.”

It was a very matter-of-fact statement. Lance was officially a victim and that meant he would be okay in the eyes of those supposed alien haters.

“And we are the same species” Lance said, tilting his head down and to the side a little. “That makes you part of a victimized group.”

Matt stared at Lance before checking that his scarf was covering his face and he turned.

“Just one person doesn’t make a group. It makes you. One day, maybe you’ll understand that. We’re here.”

Lance wanted to protest, argue back, but Matt cut the last branch and Lance saw a staircase going down into the ground. It was overrun with moss and Lance couldn’t see the bottom of the stairs. He assumed it went down a while that way the underground base could house spacecraft’s. He took a deep breath and followed Matt into the dark.

Well, dark really isn’t the best term for the staircase. Matt pulled a ring out of a pocket on his shirt and slipped it on. What was once a pale white started to glow brightly when it was on his finger. Lance stared at the ring with wide eyes.

“Oh this?” Matt said, waving his hand around and creating dancing shadows on the walls. “I got it from a planet not too far from her. Maybe a few light years. The entire planet was ocean! It was so cool!”

Matt smiled and kept walking down the stairs. Lance followed, keeping his hand on the wall for support. He wasn’t the clumsiest person he knew, but that didn’t mean he wanted a broken tailbone from slipping and sliding his way down that stairs.

“Anyway, the entire planet was covered in these bioluminescent algae. Granted, we didn’t know it was bioluminescent until we touched it. It mostly fed on sunlight and water, but it really likes dead skin cells. Don’t know why. There wasn’t any other life on the planet. But it gets super bright when they come into contact with skin. But they can live for a long time without anything to eat! It’s really cool.”

Lance stared at the ring. It was interesting, and could come in handy for a mechanic or something. Maybe Hunk or Pidge would like one when he got back to the Castle. If he ever got back that was.

They hit the bottom of the staircase and walked for a short way. The two would be in complete darkness if not for the ring. Granted, that didn’t help with the mildew smell and the generally creepy feeling of the staircase. But eventually, they reached a metal door that Matt opened. Light flooded into the dark hall, hurting Lance’s eyes, but he felt himself being led into the room.

It took a moment, but when his eyes adjusted, his jaw dropped. He was standing in a huge warehouse sized room with windows on the roof five stories up that let light stream in. Freed prisoners were sitting in pallets on the floor everywhere, chatting and relaxing for what Lance assumed was the first time in a long time. There was an open kitchen at the far-left corner, where cooks were handing out food to any that got hungry. Lance had to admit that it looked a lot better than any food goo that Hunk and Coran had put on the table. Bless their hearts. Lance loved them, but there was only so much slime one person could eat.

He didn’t turn to Matt until he heard him laughing.

“Yeah, it took me by surprise too.”

Lance was silent for a moment before turning to look at Matt. He gazed at the ground and looked up at him.

“Thanks.” He said, hoping that Matt could understand why.

“Hey! No problem! We’ve got to stick together right! Also, we’ve also got to get some meat on your bones. You’ve got no muscle. I mean, I’m not surprised. The Galra did have you prisoner and they don’t feed their prisoners a lot.”

Lance looked down at his legs and stomach. He guessed he had lost some weight and just hadn’t realized it. These purple jumpsuits aren’t baggy so he couldn’t tell.

“Oh! Also, we need to get you some real clothes! Here! Let me show you where you can change.”

Lance felt almost swept away in the system of the place. He was escorted over to a giant open closet of sorts in another warehouse sized room. Lance felt almost like he had died and gone to heaven. His face lit up like a child at Christmas.

“I can choose anything?!” Lance said, bouncing on his toes.

“Go right ahead.” Matt said, laughing at the taller man.

Lance ran off, quickly finding dark blue short-shorts that were made from fabric that would hug his butt. He also found some pants that resembled cargo pants that were a little too long, which Lance liked. He found a dark blue tank top that hugged his frame, but was just loose enough to give him room to eat. Lastly, finding shoes was a bit harder, but he settled with some alien equivalent of high-tops. He looked around to see if anybody was in sight before he stripped and started pulling on his new clothes.

Lance looked down at himself, happy with his selection. On his way out, he saw a brown jacket with a pale hood. It matched the old one his mom gave him so much it hurt. He grabbed it and threw it on, making his way back too Matt.

The shorter brunette was sifting through what looked like old alien watches when Lance appeared around a corner.

“Hey!” Matt said, not glancing up. “I’ve been trying to find a pocket-watch. Something of Earth, you know? You ready?”

Matt set down an alien watch that spun around his wrist and turned towards Lance.

“Yeah. What do I need to do?”

Lance was preparing for anything. First aid relief. Keeping watch above ground. Anything, but Matt just shook his head and started walking back into the main warehouse.

“Nothing. Just talk to your fellow escapees. Eat. Relax. You’re free and not in those shitty prison uniforms. I’ll handle getting a ship.”

Matt disappeared into the crowd of people almost the second he stepped through the door. Lance looked all over and saw him climbing a small staircase on the other end of the room and into a metal door that slammed behind him.

Lance sighed. He was on his own. Again.

He made his way over to what he took as the kitchen to get a bowl of something that wasn’t green food goo and made his way to an empty pallet of blankets.

“Um.” Lance said, trying to get the attention of the aliens that were deep in conversation. One of the aliens glanced over. They had green and purple bumpy skin with yellow eyes and three noses stacked in a row. Not the weirdest thing Lance had seen. “Is this pallet taken? I don’t want to intrude.”

The alien squinted its eyes and motioned for Lance to sit. By this time, the other aliens in the group had noticed him and were staring. Lance had second thoughts about sitting, but now it would seem rude if he walked away.

Lance sat and looked down at his food. He wasn’t sure what it was and he had second thoughts about eating it, but he was hungry. They had made it so easy to eat, cut into little bite sized pieces of whatever it was so that he wouldn’t need a fork. Lance hesitantly grabbed one and ate it, the taste of oranges overpowering his senses.

“What is your name young one?” an alien asked. Lance turned and saw that it was the one with three noses.

“Lance.” He responded after swallowing.

He glanced at the group of aliens. There were five of them. Two looked like the three-nose alien and the other two were short, red creatures with thick, raised orange lines covering their skin.

“Lance. That is a strong name.” The alien said. He moved across the ground and lifted his two-finger hand up to Lance’s face. “May I?”

Lance pulled his eyebrows together. “May you what?”

“Look into your mind. It will not be intrusive, I just wish to judge your character.”

“And you can do that by touching me?”

The alien nodded. He motioned to the red ones. “They can sense fear in even the most mindless of creatures. It’s their smell. Very powerful. We have no sense of smell. Just a need to filter unbreathable air. May I?”

Lance took another bite and swallowed, nodding afterwards. The alien gently touched the side of his face and his hand began to get warm on his skin. Lance didn’t think of anything in particular, but he was struck with an intense wave of homesickness towards his family and his friends back on the Castle.

The alien removed his hand.

“You are pure, Lance.” They said, moving back to their original spot. “I did not know you were a paladin of Voltron. My condolences. It must have been hard to sacrifice yourself.”

“Voltron?” said an alien not in the group Lance was sitting in. Lance looked over his shoulder and saw a purple alien, one that was thin and looked like anything that touched its skin would slide right off. “Voltron?”

Lance flinched and tried to make himself seem small. The alien scurried over and took Lance’s face in its hands. Well, no hiding now.

“You!” Lance was worried. He didn’t like where this was going. “You are the blue paladin of Voltron!”

Lance looked around as much as he could before nodding.

“You saved my life! You saved my family’s life! Thank you!” The alien hugged him. “We were hidden and you found us! We thought we would die! Thank you!”

Lance looked back at the three-nose alien confused, but he didn’t get any time to say anything. The purple alien was standing and shouting to the room.

“The blue paladin of Voltron is here!” well, that certainly got everybody’s attention. “He had to of saved most of us! I’ve heard your stories! We cannot let him sleep here! He needs a bed! He needs to get back to his team! “

Well, Lance had to hand it to this purple alien. They sure knew how to focus a crowd into a goal. In no time, Lance found himself being pushed towards the small staircase and chants of ‘Return him’ followed. The noise in the room had quadrupled and it was honestly hurting his ear drums.

He tried to stop it, but there was nothing he could do. He hadn’t even really talked to these people yet. They were on a mission.

But he really didn’t want to interrupt the meeting that Matt was in. The door opened in front of him and Lance squeaked.

Too late.


	3. Ree from planet Lunurani

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the late update! I went on vacation and couldn't take my computer. Then I got super busy at work over the weekend. 
> 
> So here you go! This is finishing up the entire first arc. This story is gonna be pretty in depth and long, so I'll just refer to some plot lines as arcs.
> 
> I'll try really hard to get the next chapter out by next Sunday! Thank you to all who have commented and all who have left kudos. Of there is anything you'd like to see in the story, let me know! I'll see if I can add it in!
> 
> Enjoy!!

Lance gulped as he stared up at the alien that had ducked under the doorframe and was now glaring daggers down at him from what seemed like eight feet up. The alien had dark red skin, scaled and dry, as if he had been baking in the sun for too long and his skin had cracked. He was straining and relaxing his hands, and Lance vividly saw his head being crushed in his grip. Though Lance’s eyes were trained on the alien’s eyes.

They were hard to see, the other being so much taller than Lance was, but he got the main idea of it. They were pure red, just like blood, with a cat’s eye slit of a pupil that was silver and surrounded by a vibrant orange iris. Lance wanted to look away from the glare, but felt he would be hurt if he did so.

“What’s going on here?” the man said, looking up and over the others around Lance. His voice was deep, reverberating off Lances chest and into his head. The other alien’s around Lance seemed to cower, as if they hadn’t really thought about the consequences of their actions before they did them.

Lance saw a multitude of others sneak out from behind the large one. Lance’s eyes followed as he spotted Matt standing next to what looked to be a green child.

“You,” Lance flinched and looked back at the man in front of him. “What is going on?”

Lance looked around to see if he was looking at anybody else, but his hope was very quickly crushed. Lance swallowed, and tried to still his momentary lapse of panic.

“Um.” Lance said, glancing at Matt again. “Nothing. It’s fine. Sorry for disturbing you sir. Keep up the good work!”

Lance had hoped his trademark smile would work, but the man seemed to be immune. He simply looked to the purple alien. He didn’t even have to ask, just narrowed his eyes in the alien’s general direction.

“This is a savior to us all. He needs a ship to continue his fight. He needs proper care and a bed. All of us agree.”

The alien seemed to taste this information, clicking his tongue and clenching his jaw.

“Ree.” The alien said, turning to the small green child.

The girl ran up and stood beside the man. She seemed dwarfed next to him. She couldn’t have been older that ten. Her skin was a light green, just like her eyes, but it was her hair that was most noticeable. Ivy sprouted from her scalp in green curls and cascaded down to her shoulders. A few leaves had albino streaks of white in them and some had started to turn brown under the heat of the sun.

“Yes father?” she asked, her voice not as squeaky as Lance would have expected. He also didn’t expect this tiny little plant creature to even know a giant living rock. Or maybe he was like cooling lava. Lance didn’t really know.

“What is our information on this refugee?”

Lance wrinkled his eyebrows. He hadn’t once thought about his new title in this camp, but he guessed refugee would be it. He didn’t like the sound of the word. It reminded him of his family’s history of trying to escape Cuba, only to return during his grandmother’s generation. He most certainly didn’t consider himself a refugee. He hadn’t been displaced. His home wasn’t destroyed. He was a prisoner. An escapee. A paladin.

“Well,” Ree said, glancing at Lance “His name is Lance. He was freed from Galra Prisoner Ship #298493. He was being held on Deck 19, Experiments. He was strapped to a table when our rank #6, Matt, found him and released him. He informed Matt that there were more test subjects, and proceeded to open a hidden door via a still unknown method. As a result, 29 more prisoners were saved. All of them are in need of prosthetics. Lance is the only of the 30 not in need of a prosthetic. It is assumed that he is a recent capture, and therefore had not been experimented on much by the Galra Druids. That is all the information we have so far.”

Lance’s eyes were wide. This girl sounded much older than she looked.

“Thank you.” Ree stepped back. “Matt.”

“Yes.” Matt said, stepping forward and cautiously eyeing Lance.

“Explain this unknown method.”

“Sir. He put his hand around what appeared to be a thumb pad and stared at it for a moment before it opened. That’s all.”

The man hummed, looking back to the original purple alien.

“So, you said he is your savior, correct?” he paused, waiting for the alien to nod “But it seems as if he is only a savior to 29, and that is only caused because the resistance attacked the ship, correct? So, he is not really your savior.”

Lance’s shoulders dropped. He knew that better than anybody. The man’s voice sounded so final, so Lance could only assume that the words were the honest truth, and Lance agreed.

“With all due respect sir, he had saved almost all of us once before. Most of us were captured again because our ships were captured by pirates and we were left on an abandoned planet found by the Galra. It was our own faults we were captured the second time, but he had saved us.”

The man squinted his eyes.

“How?”

The crowd was growing restless. The air had been too tense and they are not warriors. Lance couldn’t blame them for what happened next.

“He’s a paladin of Voltron!”  
“Blue!”

“He flies the Blue one!”

“Savior!”

“Quiet!” The man shouted, his eyes growing into narrow slits as the room hushed to a deadly silence. His eyes moved back to Lance, causing the paladin to flinch a bit. “Voltron?”

Lance looked around before nodding, letting out a soft yes in the process.

“And you fly one of the lions?”

Lance nodded.

“The blue one.”

“Yes.” Lance was more forward about this. “Well, I used to before I was captured.”

“And I’m assuming you know those Alteans?”

“Well, not the ones that made the lions, but the Princess and Royal Advisor.”

The man was silent for a moment before snapping his fingers twice.

Two men moved from behind him to grab onto Lance. They started dragging him backwards down the stairs.

“Wait? What?!”

“You are not welcome here, paladin of Voltron!”

Lance was struggling, and the crowd started to yell, some throwing things.

“Why?! What did I do?!” Lance had to shout over the noise of the people around him.

“Voltron was what started this whole war in the first place! It gave Zarkon his desire for power. It gave Lotor his envy for all. It has caused nothing but trouble and caused me nothing but turmoil since it’s return! I will not allow any associated with Voltron here!”

Lance struggled as much as he could, but in the end, he was still thrown out the doors and into the dark stairwell. When the doors slammed, Lance was shocked, but all he could do was stand and start walking up the stairs to the surface. He’d have to find his own way off the planet.

 

“Now then,” the man said, turning and ducking under the doorframe “Let us continue.”

The rest of the resistance filed in and the doors were closed, leaving the chaos behind them. Matt felt his head spinning. That had gone terribly and now his chances of getting a ship for them were shot.

“Matt.” The man said, turning towards him.

“Yes. Teetarik, sir.”

“Remove your head-dress.”

Matt stilled. He hadn’t revealed his face to the rebels since he had escaped the Galra prison camp. He knew from the tone of it, there wasn’t any getting out of it. Slowly, he begun to unwind the scarf tied around him until his head was free of it. His hands were shaking. The room was silent for a moment before the whispering began.

“You are the same species as that filth.”

“He is not filth, sir.”

“Don’t speak back to me. He is filth and you are part of his species.”

Matt squared off his shoulders and looked up to Teetarik with fire in his eyes. He wasn’t scared of this eight-foot alien that could probably crush him with his thumb.

“We are human. You are correct in that statement. But you are wrong on the other. He is not filth. Sir.” Matt spat the last word out, dripping in in sarcasm. He had already learned that sarcasm was something unique to humans, and only a few other scattered species knew of how to detect it and Teetarik was not part of one of those.

It was silent before Teetarik turned to a lanky pale white alien.

“Tek-chu-maq. You are rank #6.” Matt felt his stomach drop. “You are out of the army. I will not associate with ‘humans’ anymore. I’ll allow you to gather your things, a kindness for your service, then you’ll be escorted out.”

Matt’s blood was cold as he nodded and walked to his right down a long hall and opened a door on his left. He sat his bed and stared at the floor for what seemed like an eternity. Matt felt like he could turn to dust with how much the rug had just been pulled out from under him.

“Geeze. I thought you’d have at least started packing by now. But no, you’re just staring at the ground.”

Matt looked up and saw Ree standing in the doorway of their shared room.

“Ree.” Matt’s voice cracked. Of all the things that would be the hardest to leave behind, Ree would be one of them.

“Oh stop. I’ll be fine. Besides, I turn twenty in three days. A lot of people forget because I look like I’m fucking five, but I’m just as adult as you are! Remember that!”  
Matt’s eyes widened. “I’ll miss your birthday!”

“Oh please, we don’t even know if that’s my real birthday. That’s just my morph day.”

Ree sat on the bed opposite of Matt and stared at him for a long while before sighing and getting up again. She started to pack up Matt’s things for him, putting it all in a backpack. Rebels didn’t have a lot to hold onto, so packing was easy for her.

“I didn’t know it’d turn out like this. I thought I’d get a ship and take him back. See that my sister wasn’t really there and that it was somebody else. Then I’d come back and fight. But now, I’m at a loss.”

“You’ll figure something out. First things first is to get the two of you to this Voltron. Everything that follows can be decided then.” Ree shoved the pack into Matt’s arms. “I need you to trust me, okay?”

Matt nodded.

“Find this Lance and meet me at the shoreline. I’d like to talk to him before I miss my chance. Do it by sunset. Now go. The guards are here.”

Ree took a step back and let the guards come in the room. Matt put on his pack and sighed, walking out the door and back down the long hall.

 

Lance huffed again, skipping a stone on the surface of the ocean. He tried to visualize the stone taking his frustrations with it, but each skip of the stone of the deep blue water seemed to magnify his emotion and just make him anxious. He gave up and flopped in the sand, feeling the beginnings of the setting sun on his skin and allowed his thought to drift to home.

“There you are!” Matt yelled, dropping a bag by Lance’s head.

“Holy— “

“I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I should’ve guessed though. This is where I found you before.”

Matt sat down next to Lance and stared at the ocean.

“Why are you here?”

“Well, that’s not a nice way of saying it.”

“Wait! No, I mean!”

“It’s okay.” Matt said, laughing a bit at the tanned boy’s frantic flailing arms. “I got kicked out.”

Lance went quiet. He looked down and started tracing circles in the sand by his feet. A lot of thoughts went through his head at that point, but the biggest one was how much he had messed up. He should have tried harder to stop the crowd of aliens from making a ruckus.

“I’m sorry.” Lance murmured.

“It’s okay, Lance. Besides. It seems our ride is here!”

Lance perked up and looked around, hearing the faint sound of a ship but not seeing one. Within seconds, a ship had landed on the beach. The hatch opened, and Ree walked out and turned toward the sun, deeply inhaling.

Lance saw Matt get up and grab his back, so he too scrambled to get up and follow the older one over to the ship.

“Ree.” Matt said, pulling the girl into a hug. “Thank you.”

“Meh, it’s the least I could do. Plus, Father can’t say no to me and we all know it.” Ree turned her attention away from Matt and to Lance. “You.”

“Yes?” Lance said, hesitant.

“You take good care of my best friend, you hear? He’s smart, good at fighting, and just the best person I know. If he ends up hurt, I will come after you! And know I mean business, because I’m rank #2.”

Lance was nodding and he was slightly terrified of the small green girl in front of him. She turned back to Matt and then stepped back a bit.

“Thank you for the ship.” Matt said, looking at it.

“Thank you.” Lance said, almost feeling the need to bow to this small girl who had just saved the day.

“It’s the best I could do on such short notice. But it’s got a Galra exterior, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble traveling. The inside is modified a bit weirdly, but you’ll make do I’m sure” Ree said, smirking to Matt. “Just remember to charge it on starlight when the lights inside turn orange. Red means it’s too late and you probably won’t make it to the closest star. I stocked the fridge and pantry. Travel safe, okay?”

Those last words sounded so heartfelt, and Lance could practically feel her fear in the air. Matt told her they would and that they would see each other again someday before he climbed into the hatch. Lance went to follow, but he was stopped by Ree.

“Look, I don’t know what the Galra did to you, but I think it’d be best to keep it under wraps. Not everybody can understand their thinking, and not everybody can accept the outcomes. Take my experience and advice. Don’t tell a soul. But travel safe still. Stay alive.”

Lance nodded, accepting the quick hug and then he boarded the ship. The hatch closed behind him and he headed toward Matt at the front.

The ship wasn’t big. There was a kitchen to Lance’s left that ran along the wall, save for a small square that was blocked off that Lance could only guess was the bathroom. Or hope. Lance hopped that was the bathroom. To his right was a single full-sized bed pushed up against the wall with white sheets and a thick white comforter. There were two pillows. The ship didn’t have room for anything else besides walking room down the middle.

Matt was at the front were there were two chairs in front of a giant window at the front of the ship. Lance glanced at the controls, deeming them easy enough to use. He glanced at Matt, who had his eyebrows knit together.

“Need some help?” Lance said, chuckling a bit.

“Yes” Matt huffed, throwing his hands up. “I figured out how to close the hatch. It’s a good thing that you were inside, or I wouldn’t have been able to re-open it.”

“I could have worked something out.”

“Oh god! What if the hatch opens in space!”

Lance laughed. “It won’t. There’s a security latch that makes sure the hatch won’t open in flight, even if the button is pushed. But here, how about I fly and I can teach you. Or I can at least show you the basics that way when I’m sleeping you don’t kill us.”

Matt nodded. “That seems like an ideal thing. Let’s make sure I don’t kill us.”

“Good. Well then, say goodbye to the beach.”

With that, Lance sat down in the right-hand chair and took over the controls. He started the engine and then proceeded to lift them off the sand, turning a bit so Matt could get one last look at Ree, who was waving with tears streaming down her face. Matt waved back and Lance left the atmosphere.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! I'll try to update whenever I can, but I don't actually have wifi right now. Feel free to comment with what you maybe want to see in the story!


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